John 21 presents such an unreligious scene.  Jesus, having just reached the apex of spiritual and physical conquest (the resurrection from the dead and disarmament of all of satan’s power), chooses to go to the shore where his friends are fishing. 

It’s interesting to me that Jesus never went back to the synagogue after his resurrection.  We don’t hear of Jesus teaching in the temple in the following days.  The scenes that surround Jesus after the ushering in of a new covenant all center around relationships. 

We find him going to people’s homes and walking with people on the road.  And here, we find him taking the time to assist some friends in a fishing extravaganza that was failing miserably.  Oh, and afterward he grilled some fish and they ate together.  Interestingly enough, this is the setting where Jesus chose to restore Peter. 

Too often, we try to confine Christ to a sanctuary or a ritual, but he was just as comfortable ministering to people over a barbeque.  It was natural for him to teach on a hillside (Matt 5-7), at a dinner table (Matt 26:26), with children in his lap (Matt 19:13-14), and lecturing in the temple (Luke 4:16-21). 

What about us?  Can we take opportunities that we have all day long, in various settings to minister to those around us?  This week, let’s look for these open doors and be courageous enough to make the most of every opportunity The Spirit gives us.

Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. (Colossians 4:5)

Eph. 6:1 CHILDREN, OBEY your parents in the Lord [as His representatives], for this is just and right. 2 Honor (esteem and value as precious) your father and your mother—this is the first commandment with a promise--3 That all may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.

Parents go to great lengths to make sure that their children are set on a path to success.  It starts with looking for reputable day-care facilities that are not just glorified babysitters, but that are truly going to teach their precious ones how to read and write and start them on their road to achievement and prosperity.  It continues throughout their young lives all the way to parents sacrificially assuring that their children are going to get the best education at the finest colleges.

God however has made a provision for our success in Ephesians 6 that is often overlooked.  Paul admonishes children to not only obey their parents, but to HONOR them.  He reminds us that God the Father was so serious about this command to honor our parents, that he made it the first commandment to come with a promise.   The promise?  Eph. 6:3 That all may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.

The description of honor that Ephesians gives us is to “esteem and value as precious”.   When we esteem and value as precious both our natural and spiritual parents, we are assured success and long life. 

There is a difference between being obedient to parents because that’s the right thing to do, versus taking it one step further and HONORING them – esteeming them, valuing them as precious.  

When we consider the fact that we wouldn’t be here were it not for our parents who gave us life, that is reason enough to honor them.  But that is only the very beginning.  Parents have paid a heavy price to make us who we are today.  Both our natural parents, and our spiritual parents are worthy of esteem and to be valued as precious, for they carry the scars, the wrinkles, the gray hair, that is proof of the experience they have weathered to give us what we have and make us who we are today.

Paul says to esteem and value our parents as precious.  Think about how you care for your most expensive possession.   What kind of care goes into your home, or that car that you keep so clean and polished, perhaps it’s a precious jewel, like a wedding ring.  The care that we put into these things should pale in comparison to how we should esteem and value our parents. 

If we violate the honor principle towards our spiritual or natural mothers and fathers, we forfeit God’s promise.  If however, we treat our parents as God instructs us, esteeming them, and valuing them as precious, we are given a guarantee of success and abundant life. 

Take the time today to demonstrate and express to both your natural and spiritual mothers and fathers just how much you truly do HONOR them, treat them as the precious jewels they are.

"Unbelief justifies satan and makes God a liar.  Faith justifies God and proves satan a liar." - Joseph Prince

But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. (James 1:6-8 NLT)

We live in a double-minded world.  It's easy to be divided in our heart between popular opinion and scripture.  That's why scripture says to "take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).  

Today, let's be aggressive about bringing everything under the heading of faith and expel unbelief.  What God has promised, He will bring it to pass.  If it is stated in his Word, it's for you and me.

Let's not waver in the puddles of unbelief.  Let the rapids of faith overtake us. 

Here are two more scriptures to meditate on:
Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. (Proverbs 3:5, 6 AMP)

Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. (Psalm 86:11, NIV)

Thursday: But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]. (Hebrews 11:6 AMP)

Without faith, it's impossible to please The Father.  While listening to an anointed grace preacher last night (Pastor Marco Bravo of New Creation Church San Antonio), a new revelation popped out at me.  He said, "The Law doesn't require faith."

I had never thought of it in that light before, but it's true.  If I want to try to adhere to a checklist of rights and wrongs in order to be righteous, then where is there a need for faith?  Each day, I can go through my checklist and see whether or not I measured up.  To be honest, I have tried to walk out my "faith" this way most of my Christian life.  

Living this way is completely denying our need for Jesus and trying to do what the Scribes and Pharisees did generations before: prove that we can live holy in our own strength.  New flash... WE CAN'T!!!  Oh, how this must hurt the heart of The Father when we act as if we do not continually need His Son, Jesus.

The very essence of faith is anchored in knowing that in our own human effort, we are destitute.  We need a savior.  We need a rescuer.  We cannot be pleasing to God without daily and complete dependence on and faith in Jesus.  Today, let's live with total faith in the finished work Jesus has performed and not try to perform our way through life.

Wednesday:   He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3 NASB)

I love to eat.  I hate being hungry.  It's uncomfortable.  It makes me feel weak.  After a while, it consumes my thought.  God makes an interesting point here pertaining to hunger... sometimes he allows it.  He allows it for a purpose.  The purpose: to make us understand that those items for which we hunger are not the source of our life.

Whatever you may be hungering after today, remember that The Father wants us hungering for Him above everything else.  He desires for us to hunger for "everything that proceeds out of the mouth of The Lord."  What would change today if this was our focus and perspective?  Our attitude?  Our expectation?

One other important thought: God satisfied that hunger in Deut. 8:3 with something that they and their ancestors "did not know."  In fact, manna literally means, "what is it?" Often, The Lord answers in a way in which we couldn't have predicted or manufactured.  

Perhaps today is the day to lay down our preconceived notions of how God is going to come through and answer that prayer or fulfill our heart's desire.  Maybe it's time to ask Him to help us live by everything coming out of His mouth today.  Maybe it's time to eat a little manna, even if we don't know what it is or understand the source God uses.

Tuesday:   And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint. So then, as occasion and opportunity open up to us, let us do good [morally] to all people [not only being useful or profitable to them, but also doing what is for their spiritual good and advantage]. Be mindful to be a blessing, especially to those of the household of faith [those who belong to God’s family with you, the believers]. (Galatians 6:9, 10 AMP)
There is always an appointed season.  However, the appointed season is not necessarily a circled date on the calendar.  As 21st century believers, we can tend to bring our culture to scripture and try to make it fit.  Appointed seasons don't generally match a calendar schedule.  It's not like the annual occurrence of a birthday or holiday.  

Appointed seasons often require the completion of processes.  Joseph was given dreams at a young age, but had to prepared through a series of circumstances and experiences to be fit for that place.  David was anointed by the prophet to be king, but his journey to the palace was for an appointed time.  That appointed time took David through years of trials and training before it was revealed.

The Father has so much for us.  The paradox is that the more we try to achieve it in our own strength and by our own deadline, the more we will be frustrated and depressed.  Sometimes we have to simply be obedient to what The Lord has spoken to us in the here and now: love your family, serve your friends, honor others.  Build what you can where you are planted.  If we can be patient and obedient in the journey, the appointed time will prove that much sweeter..

Monday: Living in faith means that we live in the present: what God has spoken and revealed up to the minute.  As Jack Bauer would say, "...events happening in real time."  We can't change the past or control the future.  When we begin to live from hope (future), our heart can get sick (Proverbs 13:12).  

One way to ensure that we are walking and living in faith is to watch what we are saying.  What we say will effect what we believe.

We must continually release the words that God has spoken in full belief that His words are true, RIGHT NOW!!!  We cannot agree with the attacks of the enemy or the feelings of our own soul.  We can learn from David:

Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God. (Psalm 42:5 AMP)

See, David's inner self (soul) was cast down.  Translation: David was depressed.  He tells us why... he's been waiting.  We've all been there: waiting.  It's not fun.  It's not easy.  But when we let our mind, words and heart dwell on the waiting or hoping, we get sick.

But David speaks to his soul and requires his perspective to shift from the subject of his hope, to the object of it: God.  Then he takes it one step further and says that he will praise.  Why?  Because that's what he knew to do in the moment.  His faith led him to praise and away from hopelessness.  

Just like David, let's speak and act on what we know God has spoken.  Right now.